Collaborators

Laura Metcalf
cello

Cellist Laura Metcalf, renowned worldwide as a passionate solo and chamber musician, has been acclaimed for her “brilliant” playing (Gramophone Magazine) and described as “a cellist whose passion for music is as evident as her artistry and talent” (I care if you listen). She has performed throughout the US and on six continents, including South Africa, Nepal, Argentina, Qatar, Mongolia, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, and Australia. Laura’s debut solo album on the Grammy-winning label Sono Luminus reached #7 on the Billboard Charts, and was called “a way forward for classical music” by AllMusic. As a sought-after chamber musician and collaborator, Laura is drawn to projects that push boundaries and expand the definition of classical chamber music. Boyd Meets Girl, her duo with her husband, classical guitarist Rupert Boyd, tours worldwide including appearances at Caramoor, Festival Napa Valley, the Morgan Library, Moab Music Festival, Newport Music Festival and many more, has reached #3 on the Billboard Chart, and has had their music streamed over 2 million times on Spotify alone. Laura also performs regularly with the popular cello-percussion quartet Break of Reality, selected for an ongoing world tour as musical ambassadors of the US State Department. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Laura became the founding cellist of The Overlook, a string quartet dedicated to amplifying music by Black composers. She has appeared as a guest with such renowned ensembles as The Knights, eighth blackbird, ETHEL and more, and appears regularly as principal cellist of the IRIS Orchestra Collective. As the cellist of string quintet Sybarite5 from 2008-2021, the first-ever string quintet to win the Concert Artists Guild competition and reach #1 on the Billboard Classical Charts, she toured extensively, performing in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Library of Congress, and countless other major venues. Laura is also a concert curator and artistic director, having founded the weekly Sunday morning concert series GatherNYC, as well as guest curating for the Museum of Arts and Design, Fotografiska, and Wave Hill. She has appeared onstage with artists including Adele, John Legend, Cher, Shawn Mendes and Nas. As a devoted educator, Laura has given masterclasses and workshops at Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory and countless others, and holds a cello faculty position at Riverdale Country School. Laura lives in New York City with her husband and young son Milo.

Hanna Rumora
cello

Hanna Rumora, cellist, is a founding member of Room 1078, a string quartet committed to commissioning, premiering, and recording new works. She has performed alongside the JACK Quartet and members of the Silk Road Ensemble. As a cross-genre artist, Hanna has performed with varied artists from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra to Michael Buble and a Beatles Tribute band. You can hear her play on Room 1078’s debut album, By the Skin of Our Teeth and an upcoming recording of John Luther Adams’s Sila: The Breath of the World. Hanna recently won the American Prize in Chamber Music with Quartet Granitique and performs in cello quartet Hole in the Floor; her current projects include a second studio recording with Room 1078 and a solo cross-genre project adapting Americana folk music for the cello. Hanna is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Iowa.

Constance Volk
flutes

Constance Volk is a musician, a painter, and an illustrator. She is a founding member of Ensemble Dal Niente, with whom she performs regularly. Constance is a member of Chicago Wind project and Fulcrum Point New Music Project, and has collaborated with Ensemble Adapter, Alarm Will Sound, Eighth Blackbird, the Grossman Ensemble and Lookingglass Theatre. She has exhibited paintings at Zhou B Art Center, Miller Beach Arts and Creative District, ArtPrize Grand Rapids, the Oak Park Art League, and Rendezvous Arts. Her illustrations are featured with ‘Density Seeds’, an offshoot of the ‘Density 2036’ solo flute repertoire project. Constance is the creator of ‘Connie’s Characters’, a series of mix and match coloring books full of wacky weirdos. Her paintings, poster art, coloring books and music can be found at constancevolk.com

Dalia Chin
flutes

Chicago-based Costa Rican flutist Dalia Chin is a founding member of Fonema Consort and regular member for the Chicago Composers Orchestra, both of which are dedicated to performing music by living composers. She has been in residence and given performances at institutions including New England Conservatory, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Oberlin Conservatory, Harvard University, the Universidad de Costa Rica, Scripps College, UNAM (Mexico City), the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the 113 Composers Collective and North Central College. She has performed in festival and at venues including Visiones Sonoras (Morelia), the Florida Flute Convention, Festival Interfaz (Monterrey), Omaha Under the Radar, the Ear Taxi Festival, the Festival Internacional de Chihuahua, the Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo ( Mexico City), the Teatro Sucre (Quito), the City of Chicago’s Pritzker Pavilion, and National Sawdust. newmusicusa.org/profile/dchin

Xuan
filmmaker

Xuan is a new media artist, filmmaker, and pianist working at the intersection of music, art, and technology. Her work encompasses projection design, experimental animation, abstract scenography and interactive installations, and has been shown at the Metropolitan Museum, MCA Chicago, and Smithsonian Institution, as well as concert venues across the US and internationally. Her training and experience as a performer provides an insightful depth into music interpretation and the nuances of interdisciplinary collaboration. This actively guides her in the development of innovative projects that help diversify audiences and broaden the immersive scope of new music. 

An alumna of the Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, Xuan has been commissioned by Eighth Blackbird for a major project to be announced in February 2020, and launched in conjunction with its release of its upcoming album, singing in the dead of night later in the season. www.xuanfilms.com

Pamela Z
composer, vocalist, and interdisciplinary artist

Bay Area artist Pamela Z is a composer/performer and media artist who works primarily with voice, live electronic processing, sampled sound, and video. A pioneer of live digital looping techniques, she processes her voice in real time to create dense, complex sonic layers. Her solo works combine experimental extended vocal techniques, operatic bel canto, found objects, text, digital processing, and wireless MIDI controllers that allow her to manipulate sound with physical gestures. In addition to her solo work, she has been commissioned to compose scores for dance, theatre, film, and chamber ensembles including Kronos Quartet, the Bang on a Can All Stars, Ethel, and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Her interdisciplinary performance works have been presented at venues including The Kitchen (NY), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (SF), REDCAT (LA), and MCA (Chicago), and her installations have been presented at such exhibition spaces as the Whitney (NY), the Diözesanmuseum (Cologne), and the Krannert (IL). Pamela Z has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Japan. She has performed in numerous festivals including Bang on a Can at Lincoln Center (New York), Interlink (Japan), Other Minds (San Francisco), La Biennale di Venezia (Italy), Dak’Art (Sénégal) and Pina Bausch Tanztheater Festival (Wuppertal, Germany). She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Rome Prize, a Robert Rauschenberg Foundation residency, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Doris Duke Artist Impact Award, Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, an Ars Electronica honorable mention, and the NEA Japan/US Friendship Commission Fellowship. She holds a music degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder. www.pamelaz.com